NASA – Page 9 – Astronomy Now

Hubble’s high-definition panoramic view of the Andromeda Galaxy

13 January 2015 Astronomy Now

A large swathe of the Andromeda Galaxy, our galactic next-door neighbour, is mapped in unprecedented detail in the largest NASA Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled.

NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity scales new heights

11 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Despite ongoing problems with its flash memory, Opportunity reached the summit of “Cape Tribulation” on the rim of Endeavour Crater during its 3,894th Martian day, pausing to photograph the stunning vista.

Scientists pinpoint Saturn with exquisite accuracy

9 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Researchers have paired the continent-wide Very Large Baseline Array radio telescope system with NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to determine the position of Saturn and its moons to within two miles — at a range of nearly a billion miles.

NASA’s unprecedented look at superstar Eta Carinae

8 January 2015 Astronomy Now

Eta Carinae is the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years of Earth. A long-term study led by astronomers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center used satellites, ground-based telescopes and theoretical modelling to produce the most comprehensive picture of Eta Carinae to date.

Four billion-year-old meteorite reveals climate of ancient Mars

27 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Recovered from an Antarctic ice field exactly 30 years ago, a 4 billion-year-old Martian meteorite named ALH84001 reveals a detailed record of the Red Planet’s climate, back when water likely washed across its surface.

Carnegie hosts Mercury crater-naming contest

16 December 2014 Astronomy Now

To celebrate MESSENGER’s highly successful ten-year mission, you’re invited to immortalise five famous artists, composers or writers by naming craters on Mercury in their honour — but hurry, the contest closes 15th January 2015!

NASA’s Curiosity rover finds clues to how water helped shape Martian landscape

9 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Observations by NASA’s Curiosity Rover indicate Mars’ Mount Sharp was built by sediments deposited in a large lake bed over tens of millions of years, challenging the notion that warm and wet conditions were transient, local, or only underground on the Red Planet.

Dawn snaps its best-yet image of dwarf planet Ceres

7 December 2014 Astronomy Now

Launched in 2007, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is preparing for its encounter with dwarf planet Ceres, imaging the body from a distance of 740,000 miles as a final calibration of the probe’s science camera. Dawn will be captured into Ceres’ orbit in March 2015.

Ground-based detection of super-Earth transit

1 December 2014 Astronomy Now

A team of astronomers has measured the passing of a super-Earth in front of a bright, nearby Sun-like star using a ground-based telescope for the first time. Exoplanet 55 Cancri e, some 40 light-years away, is about twice as big and eight times as massive as the Earth.

Earth’s ‘plasmaspheric hiss’ protects against a harmful radiation belt

27 November 2014 Astronomy Now

Researchers at MIT, the University of Colorado and elsewhere have found that very low-frequency electromagnetic waves in the Earth’s upper atmosphere form a shield, protecting the planet’s surface from the Van Allen belt’s high-energy radiation.